The Labyrinth
by theKeeperofMemories
Summary: Erza's friends are disappearing, one by one, and each leaving a strange note written in code. Can she find and save her friends?
1. Letters and Notes

**I**

It was just another typical day at the guild.

Cana is getting drunk with Makao and Wakaba, Gray and Natsu are fighting, Mira and Lucy are chatting, and Erza is eating her strawberry cake. Nab is still staring at the request board, Team Shadowgear is in the library, searching for Mavis knows what.

Just another typical day. And it's also the day a letter came.

A little bird flew in, chirping, "Erza Scarlet, Erza Scarlet," and dropped a letter onto Erza's lap before flying off again.

The letter was from Mermaid Heel.

A crowd started gathering around her, peeking over her shoulder to read the letter. Erza opened the letter.

"Dear Erza Scarlet and the others of Fairy Tail," she read aloud. "We, Mermaid Heel want to ask for a favor. One of our guild members, Milliana, had disappeared, and knowing that you are close friends, we want you to help search, if possible. Also, two days ago, we were given letters about the disappearance of a boy named Sho and a man named Wally. According to Milliana, you four are all close friends, and we believe that you will be interested in looking for them."

Lucy swallowed, hard.

"That cat woman is missing?" Natsu asked. "And who's Sho and Wally?"

"They're the square faced guy and the blondie from the Tower of Heaven, you stupid lizard," Gray stepped up behind him.

"What did you just call me?"

"You. Are. A. Stupid. Lizard."

Erza and Lucy just kept staring at the letter as Gray and Natsu beat each other up in the background.

Abruptly, Erza stood up, abandoning her strawberry cake. "I think we have to pay a visit to Mermaid Heel."

A young girl ran through the streets, panting, her long wavy pink hair streaming behind her, falling out of her hastily done ponytail. Her eyes were red and puffy and her body was shaking so hard it's slowing her down.

Finally, she stopped in front of the big doors of the guild, Fairy Tail. For a few seconds, she doubled over, holding her aching chest and gasping for breath before charging in.

A girl ran in, her pink curls completely messed up and loose from her ponytail, the ribbon tangled in her hair. She slammed right into Erza, who was about to leave.

Erza looked shocked. "Meredy?"

Meredy flung her arms around Erza and started sobbing. "Erza-san, help, he- he just disappeared, and- and…"

"Wait, who are you talking about?" Erza asked. Then in a low voice, she said, "You don't mean Jellal, do you?"

Even though Erza's voice was low, almost everyone heard it.

"Jellal? Jellal Fernandes? How is that possible?"

"Doesn't he use to have the title of one of the Ten Wizard Saints?"

"He's really powerful right?"

Meredy was crying so hard she could barely nod.

Mira came forward and patted her on the back. "Now there, stop crying and you could tell us what happened."

After a good 10 minutes, Meredy took a few shuddery breaths and said, "This morning, Jellal didn't show up as early as usual. It was around 10 when I started getting suspicious. He never slept to that late."

"Could he be sick? Did he happen to stop somewhere? It was unlikely so I went to his house to check. I found his door unlocked."

"His house was a mess. Books torn and scattered everywhere, shattered windows… Obviously, there was a fight. His bed was empty and on the pillow, was this." Meredy held up a small note.

Erza took it and frowned. "Ve virr be ad dhe kemdel op dhe rabylimdh. Zaelkh pol uz dhele bud be kalepur vhad you wamd."

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked, reading the note again over Erza's shoulder.

"Who cares what it means? It's just a stupid note! Let's go find that Jellal idiot! That'll give us something to do!" Natsu shouted, grinning.

"I think that the note might give a clue about where Jellal is," Levy piped up. Others nodded in agreement.

"If only we know what it means…" Gray frowned at the note.

"Leave it to me!" Levy snatched the note out of Erza's hands, read it over a few times, and dashed into the library, coming out minutes later with armfuls of books.

"Let's see…" Levy scanned through each book, searching, as Jet and Droy cheered her on behind her. As she researched, Erza and Mira calmed Merudy down completely and tried to untangle her hair, retying the ponytail.

Sitting next to Levy was Lucy, reading one of the books Levy brought from the library.

Finishing retying Meredy's ponytail, Erza stood up. "Natsu, Gray, Meredy, I'm going to pay a visit to Mermaid Heel. Do you guys want to tag along?"

Natsu and Gray grinned. "Of course!" while Meredy looked confused. "Why do you need to go to Mermaid's Heel?"

Erza handed her the letter Mermaid Heel sent. After reading it, Meredy nodded. "I'm in. The disappearances may be related."

And so the four of them left to catch a train to Mermaid Heel.

"It's obviously not ancient writings or codes. Just a simple modern day code that people uses…." Levy murmured, scanning through book after book with her Gale reading glasses.

"Look, here's some ways to break codes!" Lucy held up her book, the cover reading _Modern Codes_.

Levy peered over. "But that doesn't seem right. It's too complicated. Wait, can you give me that book?" she took the book from Lucy and started flipping through the pages. "Let's see…. This one looks simple! Let's try it."

But they were unsuccessful. After trying another bunch of simple codes, Lucy slumped back. "This is so frustrating…"

As usual, Natsu died on the train and when the others dragged him off, he almost immediately revived. "So, where's that Mermaid Heel? Let's go beat them up!"

Erza punched him in the face. "You idiot. We're going there to inquire, not destroy. And if you destroyed anything….." She left the threat hanging in the air.

After a bit of walking, they arrived at Mermaid Heel. Erza knocked once before pushing open the wide doors and stepping in.

Heads swiveled around to watch them as the group of mages walked down the main aisle, where Kagura was standing, waiting for them. The two swordswoman nodded at each other and Erza pulled out the letter. "Did you write this?"

Kagura nodded. "And I have to give you this," she handed Erza a wrinkled note. When she read it, her eyes widened. "This note…"

"What does it say, Erza-san?" Meredy asked.

"Ve zharr vaid pol you ad dhe rabylimdh. Kam you blimj dhen bakc zapery?" Erza read.

"That sounds like the same code from the other note," Gray observed. "We should give it to Levy."

Kagura narrowed her eyes. "Other note?"

Meredy stepped forward and began explaining Jellal's situation. At first, Kagura stiffened at the name Jellal but slowly relaxed. She doesn't hate him as much anymore, after learning the truth from Erza. Finally, Kagura nodded. "This situation is terrible. A lot of people's missing. But why do they seem so connected?"

"Well," Gray said, "they are all old friends of Erza, right? And they were all at the Tower of Heaven."

Erza nodded. "But why would they want to take my friends? What do they have?"

The group of mages fell silent at that.

Then, Meredy looked up. "They all have information."


	2. Two Cats

**II**

"Have you found anything yet?" Lucy leaned forward, looking at Levy's process so far.

"Almost…"

At that moment, Erza and the others returned. "Levy, we found another note. Can you break the code?"

Levy groaned. "I haven't even gotten past the first note!"

"We thought the two codes were alike. Maybe they're the same?" Meredy said.

She picked up the note on the table next to Levy. "Hey, how about you just change the letters? For example, change the 'v's into 'w's because they're alike. 'K's into 'c's and vice versa… Well, it became 'We wirr be ad dhe cemdel op dhe rabylimdh. Zealkh pol uz dhele bud be calepur whad you wamd…"

Levy took the note. _Change letters to ones that are similar?_ She sat down and started to make a chart.

V-W

C-K

She thought for a moment before writing:

S-Z

T-D

N-M

"Now it's 'We wirr be at the centel op the rabylinth. Sealch pol us thele but be calepur what you want.'"

"We're only missing a few more!" Lucy cheered.

Levy added to the chart. "I'm guessing…"

L-R

"Now it's 'We will be at the center op the labyrinth. Search por us there but be carepul what you want.'"

Levy added also to the chart:

P-F

Erza took the note. "Now it makes more sense. 'We will be at the center of the labyrinth. Search for us there but be careful what you want.'"

"What's the Labyrinth?" Happy asked.

"A maze," Lucy answered. "A gigantic complicated maze in the myths. Could it actually exist?"

"Erza, give me the other note," Levy took the note from Erza. "Well, if you use the chart, this note will read, 'We shall wait for you at the labyrinth. Can you brinj them back safely?"

Levy added to the chart:

J-G

"That should clear things up!"

"'We shall wait for you at the labyrinth. Can you bring them back safely?'" Erza read. "Also the labyrinth. Seems like all of them were captured by the same person or people."

"But where is this labyrinth?" Natsu asked. "How are we supposed to save them when we don't know where that is?"

The group of mages fell silent.

Suddenly, there was a _meow_. The mages looked down. At their feet were two cats, one white and one black. The white one was dainty-looking and proud, with violet eyes that look like drops of poison. The black one was completely black, including the eyes, and it's puffier and cuter.

Everyone blinked in surprise. "Um, are cats supposed to have violet and black eyes?" Meredy asked.

"Well, we have a blue cat; why not have cats with violet and black eyes?" Lucy pointed out.

They watched as the two cats stood up and run towards the exit. Both beckoned with their tails, as if telling them to follow.

"Could they bring us to the labyrinth?" Natsu asked with crazed excitement and immediately ran after the cats.

The others shook their heads. "So hurried…" But they followed Natsu anyways, praying that he's actually correct and the two mysterious cats will lead them there, to the Labyrinth.

They kept running, into the woods and over hills, until they finally stopped in front of the mouth of a cave. The cats meowed before bouncing into the cave, the shadows seeming to cling on them as they ran and soon, they had disappeared. Natsu, without much hesitation, also stepped in, a finger with a fire on it lighting his way. The other mages- Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Happy- followed him cautiously.

Natsu sniffed the air. "Hey I smell them! Jellal's smell is the strongest and Wally and Sho's are vanishing. They've all been here! Let's go!"

"So this is the labyrinth?" came Happy's worried voice.

"We're going underground," Erza noticed. The air is becoming damper and cooler. They kept running for who knows how long, following Natsu, who is following the scent trail.

Then, they heard it. From far away, there was the sound of singing, the voice sweet and soft like a child's, echoing down the tunnels.

_ "London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my dear lady…"_

They busted into a clearing, panting, and slightly squinting against the not-super-bright light.

The clearing was… just a clearing. But it has torches surrounding everything and there's a wooden table in the middle of the clearing. Above their heads were a bunch of dolls, hanging from the ceiling.

"This place is kind of creepy," Lucy whispered, eyeing the dolls and screaming when one fell down from the ceiling, landing in front of her. The doll was elegantly and carefully made, with smooth, milky bone china skin, wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes that looked almost alive. It was wearing a simple, light pink dress that looks like what a little seven-year old girl would wear. Lucy stepped over it carefully.

"Seems like no one's here," Erza said. "Let's keep going." The rest of the group nodded and followed her out the clearing into the darkness of another tunnel.

Back in the clearing, the little doll was still on the ground. And as if it knew that no one was around now, it blinked.


	3. A Little Girl

**III**

The group of mages kept running down the dark tunnel, following Natsu and his scent trail. Suddenly, Natsu skidded into a halt, causing Gray to slam into him.

The two of them started bickering loudly.

"Enough!" Erza shouted, her voice echoing down the tunnel. "What happened, Natsu? Why did you suddenly stop?"

"The scent trail ended here," Natsu replied.

"This can't be the center of the labyrinth!" Happy said worriedly.

The four mages and the cat started walking cautiously down the tunnel.

"Hey, guys, can you guys hear something?" Lucy asked, slightly creeped out.

"_London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my dear lady…_"

"Isn't that…?"

Natsu started running top speed at the sound of the voice and burst out into a clearing. The rest of the group followed him in a slightly slower pace. When they arrived at the clearing, their mouths dropped open.

"What…?"

The clearing was… just a clearing. But it has torches surrounding everything and there's a wooden table in the middle of the clearing. Above their heads were a bunch of dolls, hanging from the ceiling.

"Isn't this the same clearing from just then?" Gray asked.

"_London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down…_"

The group of mages' heads all swerved to the source of the voice, a seven or eight year old, sitting on the wooden table, surrounded by scraps of doll parts. She had smooth, milky skin, wavy, light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Two dimples formed when she looked up from the doll pieces she was fiddling with and smiled sweetly. She looks creepily familiar.

Erza narrowed her eyes and stepped forward, "Who are you?"

The little girl didn't say anything, just started rummaging among the doll pieces around her.

"_London Bridge is falling down, falling down falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my dear lady._"

She now had a pile of doll pieces in her arms and she spread them out on the floor, then started singing again.

"_Make the shell of bone china, bone china, bone china. Make the shell of bone china, my dear lady…_"

She had pieced together a doll.

"_Dark black eyes so deep and kind, deep and kind, deep and kind. Dark black eyes so deep and kind, my dear lady…_"

"_Long dark hair so silky and soft, silky and soft, silky and soft. Long dark hair so silky and soft, my dear lady…_"

Gray, Natsu, and Happy gagged while Lucy stared in fascination. The little girl is making a doll…

Out of nowhere, she whisked out a simple white gown and dressed the doll before lifting it to admire her handiwork.

It was a beautiful doll, with flawless white skin, waist-length, silky black hair, and deep, dark eyes. It looked just like… Ultear.

The little girl frowned at the doll, as if judging whether or not it's worthy to hang from the ceiling. Apparently it didn't pass, because the girl threw it onto the ground furiously, raised a hammer, and smashed it to pieces.

"That was a masterpiece!" Lucy blurted out.

The little girl looked up, her expression serious, and shook her head slowly. Then she spun around, and once again, started singing while making a doll. This time, however, it was different.

The new doll was smaller, skinnier, with a weaker frame. She had cheerful, dark blue eyes and hair of the same color, with a dark green dress to top it all. This time, it's… Wendy.

Once again, she lifted the doll observing it. But this time, instead of smashing it, she nodded and the doll slowly lifted into the air by itself and strings wrapped around it, hanging it from the ceiling along with all the other dolls.

For the first time, Lucy bothered to look more carefully at the dolls on the ceiling. Then, she gasped.

All the dolls were people that they knew. There's Juvia, Levy, Meredy, Angel…

All of them are girls, though.

"Who are you?" Erza repeated.

The little girl didn't reply. She sat at the edge of the wooden table, swinging her legs, humming "Twinkle, twinkle little star" under her breath with her eyes closed and her head cocked to one side.

Natsu made an impatient noise. "Whatever! Let's just go!" He said and started running towards the mouth of the tunnel which they ran out from.

"It won't work," the little girl said suddenly, her eyes still closed. Natsu stopped and looked back at her, confused.

"It won't work," she repeated. "That tunnel will keep bringing you back here until I let you."

"Well, then, let us go!"

"No," she laughed quietly. "You have to defeat me first."

Natsu grinned. "Well, you're a little girl aren't you? It'd be easy!"

"You can't be seriously thinking about beating up a little girl like that!" Lucy cried but Natsu had already charged towards the little girl, his fist flaming.

And he smacked right into nothing.

"Owww…" he groaned as he sat up, rubbing his aching head.

At that moment, the little girl opened her eyes. And it is glowing.

She started singing again, but this time, it's a song they never heard before.

_"An army of dolls,_

_Light and Shadows,_

_A Cursed Betrayal._

_The archer twins,_

_A Garden full of Gems,_

_The ones you came to save._

_A room full of Mirrors,_

_Five masked children._

_An eye in the hearth,_

_Waiting at the heart,_

_The one you came to save."_

The glow faded from her eyes. "Defeat me," she whispered, "and I will give you the way to the center."

Once again, Natsu charged at her with a flaming fist, but this time, he didn't crash into an invisible barrier.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried. "There must be some other way-"

The little girl had dodged Natsu's punch and had skipped to the other side of clearing. In her hand, a violin appeared. Slowly, she put the violin on her shoulder, under her small chin, and carefully, she perched the fiddle onto the strings of the violin. Her posture was straight, proud, her eyes were closed, as if she's about to perform on a stage.

Everyone froze.

Then, Gray said, "What can a violin do?"

"I know right?" Happy agreed.

"Be careful," Erza warned, however, "there might be magic."

The girl took a deep breath, her eyes snapped open, and she started playing vigorously, a quick, powerful song that has the loudness from something that shouldn't be a violin.

At first, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, pain tore at the mages' bodies. Happy's wings vanished along with Natsu's fire. All five of them fell to the ground as they felt their magic being drained from their bodies. By the end of the song, all five of them are fighting to stay conscious; though they are so weak it's getting hard to breathe.

"Well, well," the little girl sneered, "the strongest team of Fairy Tail, beaten by a little seven year old."

Erza was the first to recover from the unpleasant surprise. Gasping, she painfully climbed to her feet, standing up wobbly. With the little magic she could muster, a sword appeared in her hand and she pointed it at the little girl.

"What did you…"

The little girl pouted. "I'm sure you know, Titania. I ate away all your magic."

She smirked at the panting Fairy Queen. What she failed to notice, however, was that Erza was slowly inching towards her. Suddenly, she lunged at the little girl, who yelped and dropped the violin in surprise. Erza impaled the violin before it even reached the ground.

"How dare you?" the little girl screamed at her, tears in her eyes. Then, she started crying while Erza stood awkwardly at the side.

"Um, are you okay?" Erza bent down and offered a hand to her, which the little girl rudely declined by shaking her head violently. Erza failed to notice the little smile on the girl's lips, however.

"Just kidding," the little girl whispered, taking her hands away from her face; her eyes were completely dry, and she started singing, again.

By now, Erza had realized that her magic was music and hurriedly stuffed her ears with scraps cloth from the wooden table, leftovers of dresses the little girl had made for the dolls. But apparently the fabrics are too thin and through it, she could still hear the little girl's voice.

_"__夢は風_

_光__导__く_

_空と雲を超えてゆく_

_貴方の声響け_

_幸せと_

_嫌な思い出__…"_

As she listened, Erza's eyelids turned heavy, and faintly, she could hear her friends snoring. Then, she welcomed the darkness.


	4. Songs and Lullabies

**Sorry for the late update but my family went back to Japan for the winter break and I was unable to bring my computer with me. But anyways, enjoy!**

**IV**

Lucy was the first to wake.

Groaning, she sat up. Or tried to, anyway. She's dangling in midair, held to the ceiling by a bunch of strings that immobilized her, which means she can't use her hands to prop herself up. Not like she's able to sit on air, anyways.

She looked around her. Hanging next to her are her friends; Natsu and Gray are still snoring away, while Erza look like she's going to wake soon. They were surrounded by dolls.

The dolls' maker is nowhere to be seen, however. Around the dimly lit room (clearing?), soft singing echoed off the walls.

_"When will the cherry blossoms bloom? When will the blossoms wither? April, will the blossoms bloom? As the gods have promised us…"_

The voice stopped suddenly. "What are you looking at?" the little doll-maker suddenly appeared next to Lucy. She floated in the air.

_'Her voice sounds weird,'_ Lucy thought. _'It sounds like she's humming while talking to me at the same time.'_

"You're wondering why my voice sounds queer," the girl said.

Lucy looked at her in surprise.

"Those strings," the girl pointed at the strings keeping Lucy off the ground. "Those strings allow me to hear your thoughts. Like the way your friend Meredy's magic allows people to share pain and emotions."

Lucy nodded. "Well, can you answer my question?"

"I have two voices, two vocals, to allow me to sing a complicated song when needed. So I can mimic the sound of two people singing at the same time."

"What?"

The girl looked at her, slightly irritated. "You heard me the first time. My magic is music. So while I use one vocal to communicate to you, I use the other to keep me airborne."

"Wow," Lucy breathed.

"Yes, amazing isn't it? It takes years of practice."

"But you're only seven!"

The girl didn't reply, only gave Lucy a long hard look. Then, humming to herself, she gently lowered herself to the ground below.

To her left, Lucy heard a groan and turned her head to see Erza waking up.

"Good morning," Lucy said brightly to her.

"Where are we?" Erza asked, still slightly groggy.

"Apparently the doll-maker had strung us to the ceiling like her dolls when we were asleep."

Erza narrowed her eyes, spotting the little girl below, who was juggling two doll heads and a doll thigh while singing, _"Ten Little Soldier Boys went out to dine; one choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine Little Soldier Boys sat up very late; one overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight Little Soldier Boys traveling in Devon; one said he'd stay there and then there were seven…"_

"I thought it was just a rhyme, not a song," Lucy mused.

"It's not," the girl called from below. "I made the song up."

"WHAT THE HECK?" Two voices screamed in unison at the right of Lucy. Gray and Natsu had woken up and was swinging around dangerously as they struggled to free themselves from the strings.

"It's not gonna work," the girl sang.

That didn't stop the two boys from struggling.

"Who are you?" Erza demanded once again.

"You are in no place to ask, Titania," she replied.

"Then at least tell us your name, so I don't have to keep thinking you as _'the girl'_," Lucy pleaded.

The girl smiled. "Names are powerful things, Lucy Heartfilia."

Lucy sighed. This was getting nowhere. "Can you two shut up?" she shouted at the two boys next to her, who had bumped into each other while flailing around and was now quarreling loudly.

In their anger, Natsu's whole body caught fire while everything around Gray began to freeze.

"Guys, stop!" Lucy yelped as Natsu brushed scarily close to her, still on fire.

But her words were wasted as Natsu and Gray disappeared from her side. No, they dropped to the ground.

"If I knew it was that easy," Natsu rubbed his wrists, "then it would've been the first thing I'd do when I woke up from that comfortable nap."

"You guys slept for 10 hours straight," the girl muttered but no one heard her.

"Well," Gray said to Natsu, stretching, "with that brain of yours of course you wouldn't know."

"But you didn't know either," the girl muttered but was once again ignored.

The two boys started arguing again.

Sighing with annoyance, the girl jumped to the ground from the table, where she was sitting, walked up to the quarreling boys and punched them as hard as she could in their stomachs (since she's too short to reach their heads).

"What was that for?" both of them shouted at her, before raising their fists to punch her.

"Natsu, Gray, she's just a child!" Lucy said.

"A child capable of things children her age shouldn't be capable of doing," Erza murmured.

Just as Erza indirectly predicted, the girl protected herself just fine. She grabbed the two fists as they came slamming towards her and twisted, tripping them at the same time.

Natus and Gray face-planted with a loud _thud_.

Even more angry, Natsu picked himself up and launched himself at her, his body on fire. The girl skipped nimbly away singing, _"Little drops of water, falling from the clouds, joining the rivers that flows to the sea…"_

As she sang, invisible water seem to snuff out Natsu's fire, though after just a second, he'd catch on fire again.

She skipped past Gray, who suddenly grabbed her ankle, causing her to trip, though she landed a lot more gracefully Natsu and Gray. She twisted her foot out of Gray's grip and rolled when hitting the ground, rolling right onto her feet.

Gray stood up. "Ice make: Arrows!"

But using her other vocal, she began singing a different song, _"Summer is coming, the warmth is spreading, as we say goodbye to Spring…"_

Erza, Natsu, and Gray gawked at her.

"She has two vocals," Lucy explained to them.

Erza nodded, understanding immediately while Natsu and Gray look confused.

"What does that mean?" Natsu asked.

The girl stopped singing. "Wow," she said, "you guys are stupid."

"Well you have a weird voice," Natsu shot back at her.

She scowled. "That's rude."

Gray, seeing her distracted, seized up the chance to attack.

"Ice Make: Lance!"

She didn't react fast enough and the lance shooting from Gray's arm hit her left shoulder. She stumbled back, clutching her wound as blue fire seem to erupt in her eyes.

Narrowing her slightly glowing eyes, she growled, "If you're trying to challenge me, I will accept."

Gray smirked.

In her hand, a lyre appeared, and strumming it, she began to sing a haunting, eerie tune:

_"Darkness closing in, _

_Light fading away. _

_Shadows stepping forward to_

_Snuff out the light of flames._

_Air has vanished, gone,_

_Rejected by the rain._

_Trapped in darkness, chained to pain,_

_Beasts devouring your light._

_Life is leaving, coming to me._

_I shall take your life."_

As she sang, the fire of the torches was snuffed out, leaving a faint trail of smoke, unseen in the intense darkness. Natsu and Gray suddenly felt something dragging them down as they slumped onto the floor, struggling against the weight of… _chains_. But every time they moved or pulled, a tearing pain would shoot up their arm, shocking them momentarily.

From far away, they could hear someone calling their names.

"Lucy?" Natsu murmured but was too weak to do anything other than slump down to the floor.

The two mages could feel their magic draining away from them-again, but this time, they could also feel their life draining away too.

The sharp pain the chains had caused them now faded into a dull ache as their minds began to grow fuzzy and confused. The darkness began to close in and they could sense the limited amount of air start to be poisoned by their own breaths.

"Can't breathe," Gray gasped, but his mouth was too weak to even open up and take in a lungful of air, if there's even anymore air left in the tiny space.

In the distance, he could hear two voices calling him and Natsu's name. Vaguely, he sensed that Natsu had gone still, his eyes half-closed.

_'Maybe he's just tired,'_ Gray thought. Just tired… Gray was now completely immobilized, unable to move even a finger, as his eyes began flutter shut.

_'That witch is torturing us,'_ Gray couldn't help but be angry- at the little girl, at his helplessness and uselessness. His eyes closed.

_'If only we could just die…'_

**If you're wondering, the songs the little girl sang are from lullabies or other songs my friend composed for fun. Strange songs, but not too bad. Please Review! **


	5. Pain

**V**

"What did you do to them?!" Lucy screamed at the little girl as she watched her two friends writhe and go still on the ground.

"Nothing," the girl said, her expression cold.

"Nothing? NOTHING?!" Lucy was going hysterical. Her friends are dying right in front of her and she's unable to do anything. "What do you mean, nothing? They're dying you little witch, DYING!"

The girl waved a hand dismissively and shrugged.

Lucy was so mad at the little girl she's starting to see red. "Put me down RIGHT NOW," she demanded.

The little girl turned back to her and sighed. With a wave of her hand, both her and Erza fell to the ground with a painfully thud. Ignoring her aching body, she hurried to Natsu and Gray. Their faces were turning blue and they weren't breathing.

She turned back to the girl. "What. Did. You. Do. To. Them?" she asked again.

The girl sat down on the ground, fiddling with some doll pieces. "Oh, not much. Just twisted their imagination to make them believe that they are trapped in a small, tight, dark room with little to no air."

"Let them go," Erza said, anger and frustration clear in her voice and expression.

"No," the girl said stubbornly. Then, in a quieter voice, she said, "I'm under strict orders to kill whoever enters the labyrinth that is not one of _us_. Instructions to kill them slowly and painfully."

"Under strict orders?"

She nodded. "Orders directly from the Masked ones. They needed Jellal Fernandes for some reason that I don't know."

"Then why did you guys take Milliana, Wally, and Sho?" Erza pressed on.

The doll-maker shrugged. "I don't know." Then, she suddenly looked horrified. "Wait, did I just say all of that out loud."

The two Fairy Tail mages nodded. Tears filled the little girl's eyes and she started sobbing, "Oh no, what did I do? They're going to kill me…"

Lucy felt a pang of pity for the little girl but it disappeared quickly. After all, her friends are still dying.

"Free them," Lucy said, her voice cold.

The sobbing child looked up, and then shook her head. "They will be freed as soon as I am executed."

The broken look on her face made Lucy wants to put her arms around her and comfort her but she stopped herself.

Suddenly, the little girl turned rigid. "No," she managed to croak before collapsing to the ground.

"No worries, little one," a cold female voice echoed around the room. "You are still needed. You're consequences wait for you after the task." An invisible being seem to pick the limp, unconscious little girl and she shimmered before disappearing.

True to the little girl's word, the moment she disappeared, the color of Natsu and Gray's face turned normal and they started breathing normally. For a few minutes, they slept until both woke at the same time.

"What happened?" they asked groggily. Lucy and Erza filled them in on what happened while they were unconscious.

"But at least you guys are alive and well," Lucy said, happy.

"Well, let's keep going," Natsu said. "And where's Happy?"

Apparently, that little wrenched cat is still asleep, dreaming about fish as he dangled from the ceiling.

**~o~**

After walking around for a really long time, the 5 mages arrived at another crossroad.

"Damn," Natsu said. "I hate crossroads. You always have to decide."

"That's only because you don't like to use your already tiny brain," Gray said.

"What did you say?"

They were about to argue when Erza suddenly shushed them. "Listen," she whispered. "Someone's there."

Sure enough, they can here whispers coming from the tunnel of the right.

"Somebody's coming," Gray hissed, and all of them got into fighting stance; Erza drew her sword, Lucy's hand shot to her keys and Happy's wings appeared.

Lucy's heart thumped loudly in her chest. She doesn't think she could stand another person as powerful as the little doll-maker.

A person emerged from the shadows of the tunnel at the right. It was a girl about the age of 16.

She had jet black hair parted in the middle and was short on the right, long on the left. It was cut slanted so the hair on the right is only shoulder-length while on the other side, it reached her waist. She was skinny and looked sickly pale, not to mention the torn gray dress she wore. Her lips were moving, whispering things that they can't understand. But queerest of all, her long lashed eyes were closed, even though she was walking.

She stopped in front of the tense group of mages. "I see you've gotten past Six," she said in a monotone voice. Lucy assumed that Six was the little girl. "I am Seven."

"Can you tell us the way to the center of the labyrinth?" Natsu asked. _That idiot!_ Lucy thought, wanting to scream at the stupid dragon-slayer.

"You're looking for answers?" Seven asked. Natsu nodded.

"I can give you the answer, only if you are willing to make an exchange."

"Sure," Natsu replied immediately.

Seven smiled a horrible, sickly smile. "You've made your choice."

And she opened her eyes.

Her eyes were completely black, even the parts where it's supposed to be white. With dawning horror, Lucy realized that her eyes aren't just black, they were dug out, leaving dark, empty sockets. A wave of nausea hit her and she struggled not to throw up.

It seems as if her friends had noticed too, seeing the fact that they all looked green. Seven focused her eyeless sockets on Natsu, who suddenly froze. Then, he collapsed onto the floor, writhing and yelling in apparent pain.

Seven smiled again, horribly, sickly. "These are my powers," she whispered. "Pain."

**~o~**

_ A boy about the age of 12 was in a cold, dark room, huddled in a corner._

_ He had messy brown hair that looked darker since it was so dirty and bright green eyes, which darted around the room like a mouse trapped in a corner with a cat eyeing it. His skin was pale and dirty, and he looked starved and cold. After all, he's only wearing a shapeless lump of cloth that looked like it used to be a sack of flour._

_ Suddenly, the metal door, locked from the outside, opened and five cloaked figures swept in. The boy whimpered._

_ "What is your name?" one of the cloaked figures asked. The feminine voice showed that she was a girl; though she wore a mask covered only half her face under the hood of the cloak._

_ The boy was shaking too much to answer. _

_ The five figures lowered their hoods, showing their masked faces. Three of them were girls while the other two were boys._

_ "We asked you a question," one of the masked males stepped up. Like all the others, he wore a black and green mask covering only half his face. He also have dark green hair streaked with brown and blonde that was slightly too long. "We asked you a question," he repeated, "and whenever we do that, you should answer us clearly and truthfully, do you understand?"_

_ "Don't be so harsh on a child, Five," a girl mused. Her voice was sweeter than the first girl, and she's obviously the leader among the five. A lithe, white cat with poisonous purple eyes circled around her and followed her as she walked to the boy by the corner, her dark purple hair trailing behind her. With a long-fingered hand, she lifted the boy's chin so he faced her black-and-violet- masked face. The boy flinched slightly at her cold touch._

_ "What's your name, dearie?" she asked, gently brushing some dust off the boy's face._

_ The boy swallowed. "Z-Zeren," he said in a shaky voice. The girl smiled before standing up and joining her friends. _

_ "You're too nice to him, One," another masked boy said. He was wearing a completely black mask which was the same color as his hair._

_ One smiled charmingly. "One cannot be too harsh on a mere child, my dear brother, Two."_

_ "Do you mean 'One' as in you, or do you mean 'One' as in anybody?" her apparent twin brother, Two, asked, a mischievous smile tugging on the corners of his lips._

_ "You know what I mean!" One said, sounding exasperated. Then the two siblings laughed. Though most people would smile at the twin's playfulness, the little boy, Zeren, only squeaked in terror._

_ "Get back on task!" the first girl who spoke snapped at the laughing siblings. She has pale blonde hair and was wearing a black and white mask. "We didn't come here to joke around!"_

_ For a moment, One and Two stopped laughing. Then they burst out laughing again._

_ The other girl made a noise of frustration. Another girl patted her on the back. She had short, dark blue hair and wore a blue and black mask. "Calm down, Four," she said. _

_ Four sighed. "I so glad I'm not the only level-headed one in this crazy group of idiots, Three," she gestured at the people around her._

_ Three shrugged. "Well it's true the twins can't stay serious for more than 2 minutes."_

_ Four sighed again. "Guys," she said loudly. When she got everyone's attention, she glanced pointedly at Zeren who looked like he's trying to squeeze himself into the metal wall. Five heads swerved to look at the young boy, who looked like he's about to faint from fear._

_ The five Masked ones' expressions were now serious and grim. "Take the boy," One said, her voice no longer sweet. Two and Five hauled the boy up by his arms and started dragging him out the room._

_ Zeren yelped and struggled but was too weak and tired to do much. When they got near the doorway, Five seem to get fed up by his struggles._

_ "Stop it," he growled, and then slapped him. A red mark stayed on Zeren's cheek and he stopped struggling. _

_ "That's better," Five huffed and the two boys continued to drag a trembling Zeren out the room, into a long hallway. After some walking, they arrived at another metal door. One the door was a sign reading "basanisthria aniuosa". Zeren shuddered again. It unnerved him how there are so many codes and different languages around the mansion._

_ One unlocked and pushed open the door. It was a horrifying room. Different torture instruments hung from the walls along with chains and other things._

_ Zeren started trembling even more._

_ "Dude, stop that," Two said, sounding like he's rolling his eyes, though Zeren couldn't see. "You're trembling like a mouse that's about to be eaten by a mouse."_

_ '_I feel like one_,' Zeren wanted to say, but he's afraid of what they might do to him if he said that. Especially in a room full of terrifying, dangerous objects._

_ Two and Five chained him with chains dangling from the ceiling, just long enough so Zeren would be kneeling if his legs failed to support his weight._

_ He heard a crack behind him and saw One holding a whip in her hand. It wasn't those types of whips that would slice right through your skin, but it would leave red marks._

_ "Zeren," One said, cracking the whip again. Zeren flinched at the sound. "Zeren," she repeated. "We are looking for answers."_

_ "You are a relative of the black mage, Zeref," Two said._

_ "We are looking for him," Three continued._

_ "Tell us," Four whispered. "Where is he?"_

_ "I don't know," Zeren gasped. He yelped when he felt the whip make contact with his back. It stung even though he was still wearing his 'shirt'._

_ This continued for what felt like eternity; them asking questions and whipping him whenever he failed to answer their questions. His back began to turn numb with pain._

_ Finally, they stopped. One was frowning at Zeren. She said something to Two in another strange language which Zeren guessed she said, "Unshackle him," because Two freed him from his chains. He collapsed onto the ground, panting. _

_ One appeared in front of him, towering over his trembling form. She started kicking him as he curled into a ball, trying his best to minimize the damage and pain he's enduring. "Useless little brat," she spat, no longer gentle and sweet. "I knew we were wasting our time with you."_

_ The blows stopped and cautiously, Zeren unfurled himself. One was glaring at him. "Stand up," she growled, grabbing the back of his shirt and hauling him to his feet. But his legs were too jittery to hold him up and he crumpled to the floor again._

_ "Useless," she spat again._

_ "Two," One said, her voice cold with fury. "Kill the little runt."_

_ Two smiled. "Happy to, older sis."_

_ Taking both of his wrists, Two dragged a screaming and flailing Zeren out the door. When his pleading and screaming faded away, One sighed, running a hand through her hair. _

_ "Next up," she said, sounding bored. "Zeren's younger sister, Gwen. Though I doubt she'd know anything more than her brother. If not, less." She pulled up her hood and swept out the room, the other three following behind her._


	6. One and Two

**VI**

The other four mages were frozen in shock as Natsu writhed on the ground in pain. Seven had a creepy smile that didn't look quite right with her empty eye sockets.

"Stop…" Lucy choked out, but she could hardly move, seemingly immobilized by the Torturer's eyes. Or, in her case, no-eyes.

Erza was the first to overcome the horror. Soundlessly and swiftly, she re-quipped and charged towards Seven, her sword raised. Seven broke contact with Natsu, who lay on the floor, panting. Immediately, Happy and Lucy hurried over to check on him.

Thankfully, Seven's eyes are now closed as she dodged Erza's attacks. It was as if she could see.

Then, she opened her 'eyes'.

Erza's sword dropped to the ground as she doubled over, clutching her chest. Gray leapt in front of Erza and created a transparent shield of ice.

Key word: transparent.

This time, since Gray is in front of Erza, he stumbled in pain, the ice shield shattering.

"I can cause you pain as long as I could see you," Seven said, smiling.

"But I thought you're blind!" Happy said, confused.

Seven's expression twisted in annoyance and anger. "Stupid cat," she growled before turning her gaze to Happy, who dropped to the ground and lay there, twitching.

Erza narrowed her eyes. _'Stupid _girl_,'_ she thought, _'telling us one of your weaknesses. As long as you don't see us, you can't harm us, right? And I think I know the other one…'_

Erza hurried next to Lucy. "Can you see her weakness?"

Lucy nodded. "One of us has to distract her. When she turns her attention to that person, the other attacks."

"I'll distract her," Erza volunteered immediately and hurried away before Lucy could protest.

"Re-quip!" she wore her usual attire, a blue skirt and armor, with a simple sword in one hand. Then, she charged, slicing at the girl's head.

Seven dodged and stared at her. Hot, spiky pain shot up from her whole body and the sword dropped from her hand as she doubled over in pain. From the corner of her eye, she could see Lucy call out one of her celestial spirits. "Scorpio!"

Seven broke away from Erza, who crumpled to the floor, panting as the pain slowly ebbed away. However, before the torturer could focus on Scorpio or Lucy, a column of sand slammed into her, pushing her against the wall of the labyrinth.

When she sat up slowly again, all five mages (Scorpio had went back to the celestial world) had recovered and stood around her dazed form. Luckily, her eyes were closed.

"Did you… defeat me?" she asked in a whisper, hardly audible. There was something in her voice that they couldn't put a finger on. It sounded like… hope?

But they ignored it and Natsu grinned at her. "Yup, now tell us where to go."

Lucy rolled her eyes. It was Erza and her that defeated Seven, thank you very much, while Natsu had lain helpfully on the floor, barely conscious from pain.

Seven smiled and said quietly, "Then I am freed," then, in a louder voice, she instructed them, "Go towards the left, where you will find something that you might be seeking, though I am not sure…"

The group of mages watched in horror as she crumpled to dust.

"I guess that's what she meant when she said she's freed," Lucy said sadly.

Erza lowered her head before straightening up again and saying, "Let's keep going."

They headed towards the right.

**~o~**

No one expected this attack.

They had walked for a long time already, eating some of the food they had prepared.

As they settled down to eat, something suddenly grabbed hold of Happy and pulled him into the shadows.

"Kitty, kitty…" a familiar voice meowed and from the shadows, a girl with cat ears walked out, nuzzling Happy, who looked like he's about to die.

"Milliana!" Erza rushed forward to embrace her old friend, unable to contain her happiness and relief. But to everyone's surprise, cat tails shot from Milliana's hand and threw Erza across the narrow tunnel.

"What…?" the Fairy Tail mages looked surprised.

Then, Milliana raised her head.

Her eyes were blank, an obvious sign that she was possessed.

Cat tails shot out from the shadows, threatening to tie Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Erza up. All of them managed to dodge it just in time.

"Hey, Milliana, what's that that you found?" Another familiar voice sounded.

From the shadows, a dark skinned boy with blonde hair and a small tattoo on the bottom left part of his face emerged.

It was Sho.

Like Milliana, he had seemed completely normal, but also like her, his eyes were blank and emotionless, the sign of being possessed. Then, he saw the others.

"Who are those?" he asked, his blank eyes narrowing.

"Enemies," Milliana piped up, unconsciously strangling Happy. Sho grinned and cards shot from his hand, so sharp that it cut the Fairy Tail mages' clothes.

"None hit!" Milliana said, overly and queerly cheerful.

Sho scowled and shot again, as if this was a game of darts.

Immediately, Natsu stepped up and burned up all the cards.

"None hit!" Milliana said again.

Erza sighed. "I'm sorry, Milliana, Sho," she whispered. "Re-quip! Heaven's Wheel Armor!"

After nimbly dodging cat tails and cards, swords shot out towards Milliana and Sho, instantly defeating them.

"It seems like the people we're meeting today aren't too powerful," Lucy mused as Erza changed back to her usual outfit.

"Speaking of days," Erza said thoughtfully. "How long have we been in here?"

The others shrugged.

"What happened?" a confused voice sounded. Milliana had awakened.

"Milliana!" Erza hurried forward to help her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

Milliana just nodded mutely. Some distance from her, Sho slowly climbed up to his feet with a groan, rubbing his temples.

"Can't remember much," he mumbled.

Milliana nodded in agreement. "I just remember hearing somebody breaking into my house in the middle of the night, then… nothing."

"I erased your memories," an _unfamiliar_ voice said. The group of mages spun around to see a cloaked figure walk out from the shadows. Half of his face (yes, it's a male. You can tell from the voice) was covered in shadows casted by the hood of his cloak; the other half wrinkled in disgust. "Can't believe how weak you guys are. Redhead defeated you guys so easily."

Milliana, Sho and Erza all looked offended.

The person waved his hand dismissively. "My annoying older sister told me to transport you two," he pointed at Milliana and Sho, "back to where you came from. We have no need of you anymore."

"You were using them?" Happy asked, sounding slightly horrified.

Lucy guessed that the boy is rolling his eyes. "Yes, kitty, that's what villains do, right? We use people for our own purposes."

"So… you're the person we're supposed to fight?" Natsu asked

The cloaked figure froze. "Oh wow," he muttered sarcastically to himself, "I am _so_ smart. One's going to kill me…."

"Yup, she is," a female voice echoed through the tunnels as another cloaked figure stepped up.

The boy flinched. "Right um… hi, my dear sister! I am very sorry for being an idiot. Care to forgive?" he asked sheepishly.

The girl, presumably One, reached under his hood and grabbed his ear, yanking it downwards, as her younger brother yelped in pain. "Stupid. Little. Son. Of. A. *****." She said through gritted teeth, yanking downwards at each word.

The boy spluttered, "But if I'm a son of a *****, then you're a daughter of a *****. Twins, remember?"

One elbowed him in the stomach, hard, and he doubled over, wheezing for breath.

Meanwhile, the other group of mages watched awkwardly.

"If those are the people we're supposed to fight…" Gray managed, his eye twitching.

The others sighed.

One now turned to the others. She narrowed her eyes at the mages from Fairy Tail. "You guys are the ones that defeated Six and Seven," she mused, then shrugged. "I'll just let you go. It's not like the possibility of you guys leaving this hellhole alive being too high." Then, turning to her younger brother, she instructed him, "Transport the other two extra ones back to their respectable homes."

The boy nodded, still rubbing his aching ear, before grabbing Milliana and Sho and the three of them melted into the shadows.

Then, One turned to the Fairy Tail mages once again. "You guys are lucky we didn't kill them," she said slowly. "Two got tired of killing everybody."

And then she was gone. Disappeared into the shadows just like her brother.

Erza, Gray, Happy, Lucy, and Natsu exchanged glances before continuing down the tunnel, the shadows swallowing them up.


	7. Hunt

**Hello! I just have to say, I am very sorry if there is a lot of grammar mistakes but I'm from Japan and goes to a Japanese school so I actually write my stories in Japanese first and then translate them to English. Actually, I translate them to Chinese, and then English, which is actually easier. The only reason I can speak English is because first of all, I lived in America for about 4 years. Then I moved back to Japan in 2nd grade. Then I stayed at Germany for another two years and now I am in China.**

**Sorry, I got off track. On with the story, shall we?**

**VII**

They found Wally some distance later. Judging by the cuts on his face and cat tails wrapping around him, he seem to have gotten into a fight with Milliana and Sho during the time they were possessed and the two angered mages had beaten him up.

When Erza tried to pick him up, the moment her hand touched him, he vaporized, leaving behind a note saying, _'Sorry, this is just a copy. The real one is back in his comfy little house!'_

Natsu's eye twitched. "Why would they put a ridiculous looking copy here only to tell us he's safe? Just tell us yourself!" he ended howling.

Lucy sighed. "Well, at least we know he's safe."

They kept going. Suddenly, they arrived aboveground, in the middle of a lush forest.

Or at least it looks like they're aboveground.

When the five Fairy Tail mages looked up, they saw the sky was half illuminated by the sun, the other half dark, with twinkling stars and a crescent moon.

"We've arrived at another weird place…" Happy said.

"Kalvw orisew, kalvw orisew!" two unfamiliar voices chimed. One was male, the other female, and one came from the left, where the sun shone brightly, while the other came from the right, where the night dwells.

Two figures emerged from the forest. Two children, one boy, one girl. Both were holding bows, and the mages could see knives strapped to their arms and most likely more weapons hidden somewhere on their body.

The girl was pretty, with pale, almost silvery skin, and silver eyes, the same color of the moon. Black hair was braided down her back, and she unconsciously tugged it over her shoulder as she stared at the unwelcomed guests. She wore a silvery gray dress with thin straps and gray boots that came up to her thigh. On her right shoulder was a small tattoo that was the number '11'.

The boy was the opposite of the girl. He was tanned, with white blonde hair and bright gold eyes, almost like the sun. He wore a yellow tank-top and pale golden shorts with gold sneakers, if that even exists. On his left shoulder was the number '12'.

"More weird people," Happy moaned.

"Ena kai Dyo eixe proeidopoioynekane maw poy saw ua diaxeirish na parete na maw," the boy said, smiling slightly.

"Ektakth pragmati," the girl mused.

The boy nodded in agreement. "Poly ektakth."

"Oi," Natsu said, looking irritated. "Can you speak a language we know? At least then we would be able to understand you."

The two children laughed. "Of course you'd understand us," the girl said with a strange accent, "if we spoke the language you are accustomed to."

"But your language is not ours," the boy continued. "So we take no pleasure in speaking it."

"Well at least you have no problem speaking it," Gray pointed our dryly. "So why don't you speak it just to make our lives easier. We can't speak your language, for your information."

The two children frowned. "I'm guessing we aren't included in the 'our'," the girl said. "Speaking this language is grustrating."

"Frustrating," the boy corrected.

"Frustrating," the girl repeated, correcting herself.

Then, the girl bowed. "Egvmai Enteka. I'm Eleven."

The boy bowed as well. "Egvmai Dvdeka. I'm Twelve."

"So, Eleven, Twelve, are you siblings?" Lucy tried to start a conversation, not wanting to get in another fight.

The two children nodded in unison. "Twins," they said. "Didymota."

"Then…" Lucy looked slightly nervous, cautious, "can you tell us where to go."

Wrong question. The twins shook their heads. "On specific orders," they said in unison, their kind, welcoming expressions now gone, replaced by a cold look. Suddenly, two arrows shot past the five mages, one silver and one gold. Eleven and Twelve's bows were raised, the string quivering. The two of them had moved so fast that no one had seen them move. "Eliminate."

Gray and Natsu fell into fighting stance, Lucy reached for her keys, Happy and Erza tensed. Tension filled the air as the five mages stared at the two children. Then, a roar filled the air, shaking everybody out of their skins, with the exception of twins, who merely lowered their bows.

For a while, there was silence, then, the girl spoke up. "For you guys to be here, it means you have defeated Epta kai Oktv."

"Seven and Eight," her brother translated.

"But," his sister continued, "We are much more powerful than them. We might not be mages like you but we are the Hunter and the Huntress."

_'A mistake,'_ Erza thought, _'she revealed that they are not mages, which means they rely merely on their fighting skills.'_

"To koino eivai edv," Eleven mused. "The audience is here."

Twelve let out a loud whistle. From the forest burst out a gigantic boar, the biggest the Fairy Tail mages have and will ever see.

Eleven's eyes brightened. "This one could last us for days!"

"Weeks, maybe," Twelve grinned, also looking excited. "Months, even."

The twins smiled, their expressions identical.

And then they attacked.

Their movements were so fast their bodies were a blur. From the vague pictures Natsu, Gray, Happy, Erza, and Lucy could pick out, at first they were holding their bows, shooting silver and golden arrows. Then the bows disappeared, replaced by hunting knives, slicing and cutting the boar, who was confused of what's happening, it's slow brain unable to process the fact that it's being attacked.

In less than one minute, the gigantic boar had turned into a huge pile of meat.

Natsu and Happy's mouths are watering at the sight of the bloody, raw meat, which Lucy had found repulsing.

"That looks delicious!" Natsu exclaimed. The rest of them, including the twins, sweat-dropped. "It's not even cooked yet…"

The two siblings turned back to the Fairy Tail mages. The girl cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, we got distracted."

Twelve sighed. "To be truthful…"

A suddenly screech filled the air. More screeches followed it. Everybody clutched their aching ears.

"What the heck?" Gray yelled over screeching.

Twelve was cursing under his breath, most likely in their language while Eleven was shouting at him, "Emeiwaste etsi anohto! Pislyta parete proselkyseiekane na aima! Emeiw ua prepei na eixe plyshekane to kreaw!"

Twelve shouted back to her, "Egv zkefteiteekane emeiw skotvseiekane to kopadi!"

Natsu shouted at them, "STOP SPEAKING IN THAT WEIRD LANGUAGE AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE SOUND! YOU GUYS LIVE HERE DON'T YA?!"

Then, the screeching stopped. The twins tensed.

"Okay," Natsu said loudly. "What the he-"

Erza slapped him so the back of his head. "Be quiet."

Slowly, cautiously, they approached the twins, who were still frozen in place.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked quietly.

"What was that?" Erza asked as well.

Twelve unfroze. "This world that we're in now is controlled by the makers of this labyrinth, One and her younger brother Two. Eleven and I were sent here just for their own entertainment, which means, they're watching and laughing at us right now."

Eleven had the right to look angry.

"None of us chose to be here, you know," she hissed. "Only out of fear of the five Masked Ones."

"We're getting off track," Gray said. "What was that sound?"

Twelve's expression was grim. "This world was created by Five, and he filled this world with monsters. A good example would be the boar. And that sound was made by…"

"Birds," Eleven said. "Meat eating birds. Scavengers. Get lured by the smell of blood. It's dangerous here in this world."

"Okay," Lucy said faintly. "Anything else we should know about?"

"The birds have super sharp talons, so they're harder to kill. They're also quick, even though they're about the size of a house," Twelve's eyes were darting from tree to tree.

"They can also camouflage, like a chameleon," Eleven whispered. "Blasfhmia, I thought we killed all of them."

"They breed like rats," Twelve hissed. "And 'blasfhmia' means 'damn', by the way, in case you were wondering."

"The birds are patient," Eleven said, "like wolves. So we need a strategy to defeat and chase them away."

"And why should we help you?" Happy asked.

"Are you anohto?" Eleven hissed. "With the birds here, we're unable to duel. And if you don't kill us, you can't get past here. You'll just circle back to here."

She gestured the others to come closer. "Now listen closely…"

**~o~**

The plan was simple. Natsu, Gray, Happy, and Lucy guard the meat while Erza, Eleven, and Twelve attack. The moment Eleven finished talking, she drew her bow and shot an arrow so quickly at first you would think that she only turned around. A screech filled the air and something big and feathery dropped to the ground, flopping and fluttering around a bit before going still.

"One down," she murmured.

"Don't-know-how-many more to go," Twelve reminded her grimly.

_'Ironic,'_ Lucy thought. _'We were supposed to fight them but they had suddenly become our allies.'_

The moment that one gigantic bird fell from the tree, the others attacked.

The birds were easier to kill than expected, though they are fast. In about 5 minutes, dead birds littered the forest ground.

About only half the flock was left.

Suddenly, everyone heard a scream. It was Lucy. Everyone, even the twins hurried forward. Lucy was on the ground, her face pale and sweat beaded her forehead. On her shoulder was a deep gash, obviously caused by a bird's talon. Eleven spun around and shot the bird in the neck.

Eleven swallowed. "Guys, I need to tell you something. I forgot to tell you that…"

"The bird's talons are poisonous," Twelve finished for her.

The Fairy Tail mages gaped at them.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Natsu exploded.

"Egv jexase!" Eleven screamed back.

"I forgot," the brother translated.

Eleven sighed and turned around, back to Lucy, crossing her arms. "Do you guys want to save your friend or not?"

The shut Natsu up.

"Is she going to die?" Happy asked worriedly.

"Of course," the Huntress scoffed. "She's poisoned, if you haven't noticed, kitty. And there's no cure."

"What?" the mages were shocked.

"So you want us to just watch Lucy die?" Erza demanded.

Twelve shook his head. "No. what my sister meant is that _we_ have no cure. Somebody else does."

"Yes," Eleven agreed. "But to get to the person with the cure, that is if you can even manage to convince her to give you the cure, you have to defeat us."

"We can't do that," Erza said softly. "You guys helped us."

The twins sighed. "We thought that you guys wouldn't agree to fight as well. So we have formulated another plan. Very simple plan."

"You guys take the meat," Eleven instructed. "My brother and I won't need it anymore. And then, leave. Let us never see your faces again."

"Wait, what do you mean that you guys won't need it anymore?" Gray asked.

Twelve smiled and ignoring Gray, said, "And remember to take the gem!"

"What gem?" Natsu asked.

The twins ignored him. Instead, they raised their bows and pointed it to the sky, then crossing the two boys together. "We surrender," they said in unison.

From the point where their bows were crossed, a small ball of light appeared, growing bigger and brighter until it swallowed the twins. When it finally dimmed, the twins had disappeared, leaving only a piece of diamond on the ground.

"The gem," Erza murmured.

"Why do I feel like all the people in the labyrinth are suicidal?" Gray asked.

The others shrugged.

"Natsu, Happy, take Lucy. Be careful," Erza said. "We have to find the cure.

**Please review!**


	8. Potions

**VIII**

The group of Fairy Tail mages made their way carefully into the forest, avoiding any part of the forest that looks dangerous. Natsu and Happy carried Lucy as carefully as they could while being able to walk at the same time.

It wasn't a pleasant journey.

As they hiked, Erza kept glancing down at the diamond the twins have left for them. When they arrived at a patch of sunlight, the gem would glow golden, the light pointing towards a certain direction. Under a patch of moonlight, the light is silver. Just like that, they turned and twisted, following the light.

After walking for a while, Erza noticed trees around them beginning to change. They became shorter and skinnier, their leaves thinning until at one point, the group of mages found the trees skinny and leafless, its bark giving off a silvery, unnatural glow.

Lucy was like the trees, turning paler and skinnier as they traveled. The tips of her fingers and ears began to turn gray, as if the skin and flesh there are dying; the poison from her wound had begun to spread. Her wound would not close, however, and continued to drip black blood.

_'Stay put,'_ Erza prayed to her friend, knowing Natsu, Gray, and Happy are thinking the same thing. _'Please don't die on us.'_

Then, they arrived at a gate.

The big iron gate was at least thirty feet tall, made entirely of pure silver, with patterns of roses, flowers and vines, twirling and stretching upward until it ended at the top with a wickedly sharp point. The roses and flowers were decorated with different colored gems and the tips of the spikes on the top of the gate were also gleaming with carved diamonds.

Erza moved to push open the gate, or at least tried to, but before her hand even touched, it creaked open slowly by itself as if she had pushed it.

"Curious," muttered Gray.

They continued walking. Around them, the trees are now glimmering and shining like gems. Looking closer, the group of mages found that it _is_ gems.

Everything in here is made out of crystal or multi-colored stones and jewels.

"Whoever lives here," announced Happy, "is RICH."

Natsu nodded in agreement. "Hey, how about we bring some back? Even a single flower might be priceless enough to make us a billionaire!"

Happy went dreamy-eyed. "Then we would never have to worry about being unable to afford fish…"

"Food," Natsu corrected.

"You absolutely will not," Erza said, not turning back. "Who knows what would happen if you even pick up a small flower. Anything may be a trap."

Natsu and Happy grumbled some things under their breath.

"Happy," Erza instructed. "Go fly up and look around. Report back to me what you see."

"Okay," Happy shot up several meters higher into the air. "Clearing ahead!" he called.

Erza nodded in approval. "How much distance?"

Happy landed back onto the ground covered with crystal grass. "Not much. About 5 minutes walking there."

Erza nodded again. _'The twins had said that somebody else has the cure to the birds' poison,'_ she thought. _'Let's wish that person is nearby.'_

Suddenly, the diamond in her hand seems to pulse once, turning warmer, before cooling again. After 20 seconds, the process repeated.

_A diamond…_ Erza looked around. If the diamond was a clue from the twins to the person with the cure, then Erza would guess that the person is somewhere here. A diamond and a forest made of gems…

They arrived at the clearing Happy saw from above.

The clearing was big, with a fountain made of jade and emeralds shooting out thin sheets of crystal. A bench sat near the fountain, and on the bench sat a person.

From their side of the clearing, the Fairy Tail mages couldn't see the person on the other side clearly, since the fountain is blocking their view.

The person is obviously female, that much they could tell, and she's humming a song that Erza recognized immediately. Six, the little doll-maker had sung it.

_"An army of dolls,_

_Light and Shadows,_

_A Cursed Betrayal._

_The archer twins,_

_A Garden full of Gems,_

_The ones you came to save._

_A room full of Mirrors,_

_Five masked children._

_An eye in the hearth,_

_Waiting at the heart,_

_The one you came to save."_

Now that Erza paid attention to the words, she realized it's like a prophecy of some sort.

_The archer twins_, Eleven and Twelve; _A Garden full of Gems_, where they are in right now.

But it's strange, considering the fact that they haven't met an army of dolls yet. Six, perhaps? But it wasn't exactly an army of dolls… And what is this light and shadow? Seven didn't seem to be mentioned either.

Erza was thoroughly confused. Maybe it's not in order? But even if it is, Erza don't know what's going to happen next. Prophecies are always so vague.

Frustrated and captured in her own thoughts, she didn't even notice that the girl had stopped singing and stood up. It was only when the girl talked did Erza snap back to reality

"Who dares enter the Garden of Gems?" she asked, stepping out from behind the fountain. The girl was pretty, about the age of 17. She has dark brown hair that's not quite black, streaked with light blonde, not quite white. Her skin was pale yet healthy looking, giving of this silvery glow. She's tall and skinny; her figure seemed to be stretched even taller by the black dress she was wearing. Her dress constantly changed colors, from black to blue to gray… Most unique, however, was her eyes. One of her eyes is pure black, a deep void of darkness, while the other is bright green, the color of newly grown leaves.

A small, teasing smile quirked her lips as she sat on the edge of the fountain, a single sleet of crystal falling onto her outstretched hand. Then, with smooth movements, she threw the crystal at Erza. As the crystal sailed towards her, it seem to become sharper and sharper until it was like a small knife. Erza dodged it, feeling it nick her ear, and the crystal embedded itself on the tree behind her.

"How may I help you?" she asked.

Erza narrowed her eyes. "Let's introduce ourselves first. I am Erza Scarlet, a mage fro-"

"Fairy Tail," the girl said. "Yes, yes, I know. Natsu Dragneel, Happy, Gray Fullbuster," she pointed to each of them in turn.

Then, she saw Lucy.

"Don't tell me that's Lucy Heartfilia!" she exclaimed. Erza looked at the celestial mage. True, Lucy isn't looking too well. Her skin has a gray tinge to it and she had become so skinny she looks like a skeleton.

"Unfortunately," Gray said, "it is."

"Whatever. Anyways, I'm Nine. And what happened?"

Grays eye twitched. _'So one second she doesn't care and the next she's wondering?'_

Erza seem to suddenly remember why they came here in the first place. She held out the diamond. "We were given to this by Eleven and Twelve. They said that somebody has the cure for the poison of the birds' and to take the gem. I take it that it's you?"

Nine gingerly took the diamond and examined it, lifting it to see it in the light.

"It really is them," she muttered. Then, to the Fairy Tail mages, she said, sighing, "You know very well that you have to defeat me to go on and find your friend, but if I manage to heal your friend, that means you guys have lost and will be killed. By me."

Erza nodded slowly. "It doesn't matter, just save Lucy. Please."

Nine looked amused. "I'm not even sure I'd be able to save her," she mused. "After all, it's been a long time since the poison has entered her bloodstream."

"Just try your best."

Nine nodded. "Put her down on the ground," she instructed Natsu and Happy, both following her instructions obediently, knowing that their friend's life depends on it.

Taking another piece of crystal from the fountain, it writhed and changed into a bowl, Nine dropped the diamond into the bowl. Using another piece of crystal, she made a crushing stick, and promptly began to crush the diamond into powder.

A small part of Erza's mind told her that it's impossible, saying the fact that diamonds are the hardest mineral in the whole entire world, and a piece of crystal can't possibly just simply _crush_ it into powder. But Erza had seen stranger things, so _meh_.

When the diamond was thoroughly crushed, a silvery, silky powder, Nine took a pinch and sprinkled it onto Lucy's wound, where black blood is still spreading. Then, she stared intently as the sprinkle powder turned black, sizzled, and evaporated.

Nine straightened up.

"How is she?" Erza asked immediately.

"Will she be okay?" Happy asked worriedly.

"You'll heal her, right?" Natsu asked, his face hopeful.

But then, to everybody's shock and growing fear, Nine shook her head. "It's too late," she whispered. "The poison had reached her heart. I am unable to heal her."

Natsu's eyes widened and he grabbed Nine's shoulders, shaking her violently. "You're joking, right?" he demanded. "You can heal her! The twins said you could…"

He stopped when she shook her head. "I can heal her before it's too late. And right now, it's too late; you guys were too slow to reach me."

The Fire mage let go of her and stormed back to Lucy, staring at her. "No," he suddenly announced after a moment's silence. "You healed her, she's recovering!"

Nine, however, shook her head slightly and turned away.

Erza, Happy, and Gray all gathered forward to look down at their dying friend. Just as Natsu had said, Lucy seems to be recovering rapidly. The gray tint of her skin begins to drain away, leaving Lucy's skin in a healthy glow. Her wound sealed and healed, leaving not even a scar behind. Even her tattered clothes seem to knit itself back to it's original form.

Lucy's eyes fluttered open, light blue, and smiled when she saw her friends. "Natsu," she whispered. "Happy, Gray, Erza."

Her eyes closed. "I'm so sorry…"

Her breathing ceased.

"What?" Natsu was confused. "But she was healing! She was fine! She's…"

"The beauty of the _Poylita Dhlhthrio_ is that you die in your most beautiful form, and a painless death, like falling asleep, even though the process before isn't as comfortable," Nine whispered.

Happy began to sob.

Natsu spun around, his eyes blazing. "HOW IS THIS BEAUTIFUL? HOW IS DYING BEAUTIFUL? THERE IS NO BEAUTY IN DEATH; NONE!"

Nine was unfazed by his outburst, only waved her hand dismissively. "You don't think there's beauty in death, Natsu Dragneel," she said softly, "because you've never seen it."

Erza stared intently at her dead friend's peaceful face. "But is it possible," the scarlet-haired mage said suddenly, "that we could bring her back from the dead? Is there a way?"

At that question, Nine froze.

_'Aha,'_ Erza felt slightly proud of herself. _'Gotcha…'_

"There is…" Nine said slowly. "But I need ingredients. Ingredients that isn't available here in the Garden of Gems."

"What do you need?" Natsu asked immediately.

"Water. And I also need some magic extracted from one of you guys."

"Can't you just use your own?" Happy asked.

"No!" Nine snapped. "How am I supposed to use my magic to make a reincarnation potion using my own magic? I need spare magic, one of you need to sacrifice some."

"I volunteer," Natsu stepped up.

"No, Natsu,' Erza pushed him out of the way. "We need your magic. You and Gray can make the water Nine needs. I'll do it."

Nine nodded approvingly. Then, she snapped and crystals and gems from the fountain twisted themselves into a large cauldron, with a small fireplace underneath. The cauldron hung from a small, crystal tree that had seemingly grown out of nowhere.

"Gray," Nine said. "Fill 3/4ths of the cauldron with ice. Natsu, make a fire in the fireplace underneath the cauldron."

The two mages obeyed. The ice in the cauldron began to melt into a clear, simmering water. When the water began boiling, Nine poured the diamond powder into the cauldron. Picking up a random flower made of rubies and emeralds, she crushed it into powder as well, along with a sapphire and quartz, lavender-like flower. She poured those in too.

After letting the things boil for a little while, Nine smiled, rubbing her hands. "This," she announced, her eyes excited, "is when the magic starts."

Standing in front of the cauldron, Nine raised her hands above her head and began chanting in the same language the twins had been speaking.

"Egv, poiow eixeekane naekane partetai apo uanatow tonanto, zhthoh to dvreanua toy ayto pneyma," Nine plucked a strand of Lucy's hair and added into the boiling cauldron. "Paraklv, emfanish mon to diadromh naprowta zvh."

"Now, Erza!"

Erza stepped forward. A thin layer of crystal seem to envelope her, cutting off her air supply. Then, a burning pain spread through her body, as if the pain was flowing through her bloodstream, but Erza couldn't make any sound, there was no air. Black and red spots danced in her vision as she felt herself growing weaker. Just when she thought she couldn't bear it anymore, the layer of crystal shattered.

Erza crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath and waiting for the black and red spots of disappear.

Meanwhile, Nine had taken Erza's magic and let it flow into the cauldron. The contents inside the crystal cauldron glowed gold and silver before evaporating away, leaving behind a small vial around the size of your middle finger, filled with a clear liquid with gold and silver swirls.

"Success!" Nine exclaimed, holding up the vial and passing it to Happy, who put it in his little backpack, if you could call it a backpack.

"Now…" Nine walked up to Lucy's peaceful-looking corpse. She raised a hand and a crystal coffin enveloped the celestial mage, almost like Snow White. Then, the ground enveloped her, coffin and all.

She turned back to the group of Fairy Tail mages, who were all examining the potion.

"Now," she said. "You guys have to defeat me."

And she attacked.

**Yes, I killed Lucy. Problem with that? Please don't freak out. I don't like crazy people. Anyways, please review!**


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